MORE SUBSTANCE, PLEASE

THE HARTFORD COURANT

John McCain has been painting a fairly detailed picture of what his presidency would look like in recent campaign stops across the nation. For example, in a March foreign policy speech, he said he might lead an effort to expel Russia from the G-8 club of leading industrial democracies, a surprising and troubling idea.

And recently the presumptive Republican nominee affirmed his intention to appoint Supreme Court justices in the mold of conservatives John Roberts, the chief justice, and Justice Samuel Alito, both named to the high court by President Bush. This is also surprising, considering his more moderate record on court matters: He was one of the "Gang of 14" senators who were lionized by liberals in 2005 for heading off a showdown over judicial filibusters.

The point is that Mr. McCain is talking to voters about a wide variety of substantive issues while his Democratic rivals have been drawing A-plus crowds but for the most part giving them C-plus campaign rhetoric.

There should be more to a campaign than that. There are a handful of events remaining on the Democrats' primary election calendar, spread out over the next few weeks. It wouldn't hurt either of them if Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama talked about issues that lately have been getting short shrift.

The candidates ought to be talking more about vital subjects such as the direction of the judiciary, whether or not the post-9/11 erosion of civil liberties is acceptable and what each thinks about executive power.

Would a President Clinton or a President Obama employ so-called signing statements (used by a president to enact a bill but ignore its provisions) as liberally as Mr. Bush? What does each one think about warrantless wiretaps or a president's defining torture and suspending habeas corpus?

Some of this ground has been covered in the past year, but the candidates' views on such issues get lost in bumper-sticker campaign rhetoric that produces more heat than light. Let the Democratic presidential candidates end the primary campaign on a high note.